Biden: ISIL will reside in hell

Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a fiery response to the killing of American journalist Steven Sotloff, telling Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants that the U.S. will “follow them to the gates of hell.”

“[W]hen people harm Americans, we don’t retreat. We don’t forget,” Biden said during a speech in New Hampshire. “We take care of those who are grieving, and when that’s finished, they should know, we will follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice. Because hell is where they will reside. Hell is where they will reside.”

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The vice president referred to ISIL — the group the Obama administration has said is responsible for the beheadings of Sotloff and fellow U.S. journalist James Foley, seen in a video on Aug. 19 — as a group of “barbarians.”

He touted the U.S. history of resiliency and said the videos documenting the killings of the two Americans would not scare the American people. “[T]hey somehow think that it’s going to lessen U.S. resolve, frighten us, intimidate us. But, if they think the American people will be intimidated, they don’t know us very well,” he said, adding that U.S. military forces killed Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden and that Americans united after the April 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.

“The American people are so much stronger, so much more resolved than any enemy can fully understand,” Biden added.

Biden made his remarks during a scheduled appearance at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire. He noted multiple times that Foley was a native of New Hampshire. The late journalist’s family lives in Rochester.

His comments were reminiscent of those made by Sen. John McCain in a 2007 Republican presidential debate, when he was asked about bin Laden, who at the time was still at large.

“We will do whatever is necessary,” the Arizona Republican said at the time. “We will track him down. We will catch him. We will bring him to justice and I’ll follow him to the gates of hell.”

His speech came after President Barack Obama addressed the situation during a joint news conference with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves. In his comments, the president also insisted that the U.S. would bring ISIL to account for its actions. “Their horrific acts only unite us as a country and stiffen our resolve to fight against these terrorists. And those who make the mistake of harming Americans will learn that we will not forget and that our reach is long and that justice will be served,” Obama said.

Secretary of State John Kerry offered similarly strong words early on Wednesday, decrying “the unfathomable brutality of ISIL terrorist murderers” and insisting that the U.S. will bring the group to justice.

“When terrorists anywhere around the world have murdered our citizens, the United States held them accountable, no matter how long it took,” he said in a statement, vowing the U.S. would do the same to ISIL.

The administration has launched multiple airstrikes against ISIL targets in Iraq, where the group has swept across much of the northern and central part of the country and has targeted religious minorities. The White House has not yet made a public decision regarding airstrikes or other potential military response against ISIL militants in Syria.